Another week of miracles. Am I surprised? NOPE. Because God loves us.

Hey everybody! So this has been such a crazy week of miracles.

This week, we went to talk with a girl who had taken the lessons before with other missionaries, but stopped for some reason. Her name is T______, and she's 15. We knocked on her door and she and her mom came out, and her mom said "Hey! You know, I think T______ is ready." Sister Bueno and I glanced at each other, thinking ready for what...? Her mom then says, "I think you're ready to get baptized hon, what do you think?" T______ was like "Yeah! Woohoo, let's do it before school starts on August 22nd!"

 

Our reactions looked a bit like the whole "deer in the headlight" saying. Wow. We weren't ready for that one, but can she get baptized before school starts? OF COURSE YOU CAN YOU MIRACLE CHILD!!!

Also, a woman in the ward called us one day and said "Hey, so my daughter is 9 years old and has autism and a morbid fear of water, so she hasn't been able to get baptized until now. But now she's practicing being in water with swimming lessons, and so... could you come teach her a little bit? We want her to get baptized before August 8th."

Another miracle. Also, one of our ward mission leaders called us and let us know that he had a full family for us to teach next week, and since the guy wants to marry the less active girl and they're hoping to get to the temple, it sounds like he'll be golden!!! So many amazing opportunities have fallen into our laps, which has been awesome, because half of this week we were down with the stomach bug. MIRACLES!!!!!

Heavenly Father really does watch out for all of His children. Seeing miracles like this so much more, mostly because now I'm looking for them, has been the biggest blessing to me from being on a mission. I love every second of it, even the hard ones, because at the end of the day, I'm HAPPY. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to the earth again, makes you happy. I promise you this confidently :)

Till next week! 

 

 

Sister Clark

 

Officially 1/3 of the way done...!

I hit my 6 month mark on the 13th, ack! It was fun though, we got to burn a scarf in honor of me surviving this far, haha :)

 

On Monday, I was struggling. I was tired, I was feeling bleh, and I didn't want to go out and work. But I said a mental prayer and told Heavenly Father that I would do my best, because I'm not here for me. So we went out to work.

 

We felt prompted to go and see K_____, who hasn't been home in a while. We went and... no one was home. We tried to see 4 different people, and no one was home. I was feeling discouraged and had Satan in my ear the whole time, telling me to give up and go home to sleep. But at the same time, the Spirit whispered "Look around, you're in this area for a reason."

I looked around, and there was a trailer tucked away in the corner of the street, and the Spirit said "Go there!" So we did, reluctantly, and knocked on the door.

 

The lady who answered lit up in a huge smile and said "So you must be the new sisters!! We've been waiting for you to come back around! When can you come back this week?"

That. Never. Happens.

Turns out, that family had been taught before, but with transfers and them moving, they lost contact with the missionaries. She's a recent convert and her kids were taking the lessons, and they were excited we found them again.

 

Only the Spirit could have directed us like that to them. Miracles happen every day.

On Sunday, we were bummed out because we missed going to 8th Ward's services the week before (one of the four wards I cover), and that Sunday was the testimony meeting we do once a month. We were in the urgent care with Sister Bueno's spider bite so we missed it, and we missed out on bearing our testimonies. But this Sunday, in the last 10 mintues of the service the Bishop of the ward stands up and says "Sisters, we'd like to put you on the spot and have you share your testimonies with us!" One of their speakers had left early and they needed something to fill in the time. Tender mercy of the Lord!!

Another really cool miracle happened to us just last night! This was a little bit of a scary one though!

We had gotten in our beds and we were just chatting and trying to get to sleep.. for hours and hours... neither of us could get comfortable. Finally it's midnight and Sister Bueno gets up to get some water. Suddenly I hear "Sister Clark! COME OVER HERE!" So I get up and rush over, and as it turns out, we had left the oven on! For hours!!!

 

The whole kitchen was really hot and the oven was absolutely scorching. We got it turned off and everything was perfectly fine, and we sort of stared at each other in shock for a bit. Sister Bueno felt prompted to get up and get water, which was really random, but when she did she noticed the oven on. The Spirit kept us awake and prompted her to get up so we could get the oven off. If we had just been able to go straight to sleep, we would've slept straight through the night and our apartment could've caught on fire.

 

But we were guided and protected!!

I know that Heavenly Father looks out for us more than we realize. He's very aware of our situations and what we need, and I know He protects us. Listen to the Spirit, everyone!!!

 

This is how I found Sister Bueno after a lunch break nap... haha!

 

 

A member took the sisters to the grocery store last P-day and sent me this pic :) Mom

6 Months out already!

(Pictures from a family she had dinner with)

 

 

This will be a short email :)

 

We had an amazing district meeting this week. I was really impressed with how they did it- we read three talks beforehand and then we came and discussed them. Usually getting a bunch of barely-older-than-teenagers together in a room just makes it a party, but for this meeting we had such spiritual discussions and testimony bearing that I was getting emotional at so many times. I don't often get emotional at district meetings! And then of course, 3 missionaries gave their departing testimonies before they go home... it's always so sad! I hate those testimonies :( But at the same time, I know those missionaries will go home stronger and better than they came out, and their whole lives are ahead of them! There's so many tools I've gained on my mission that are invaluable to me, even at 6 months out, and I just keep learning more. 

This week we went on exchanges too, and I learned so much from the amazing Sister Tauti. She's a crazy fun Samoan with the strongest testimony and the most contagious laugh. But in their room in Blackfoot.... they have these scary dolls positioned just right that they stare at you while you sleep.......... if I had any nightmares I forgot them before I woke up, thank goodness.

 

 

We also met an awesome 9yr old named K_____, and he's so ready to get baptized! He loves us already. He was so excited to show off and show us all his tricks on his bike and scooter, and he went around to people saying "hey guys, these are MY new missionaries!" So cute! We're excited for his enthusiasm about getting baptized, and we're hoping his spirit will help his parents back to activity in the church :)

The morning after exchanges though... Sister Bueno woke up with her eye swollen shut and a sore by her eye. SHE WAS BITTEN BY A HOBO SPIDER IN HER SLEEP.

No. No. No. SO MUCH NOOO.

 

We got her to an InstaCare and got her on antibiotics, and she's doing a lot better now. We took Sunday off so she could recover from it, and it looks so painful. Bleh! I hate spiders SO MUCH. Am I still praying for protection from spiders every day? Yes. Yes I am. More so now than ever. And now she is too! Uuuuuuuugh spiders....... pray for us...

 

So for the 4th of July, I forgot to talk about what we did! 

We ate junk food all day, played basketball and kickball, then went on a killer hike behind the President's house. It was so fun! At the top of the mountain we all sat down to watch the sun set, and an elder sang "Amazing Grace" on his ukulele. It was a picture perfect moment.

 

Coming home from the hike was a little hard, because we drove past all the families and couples getting together for watching the fireworks- it made us both pretty homesick. This was my first big holiday away from home, and it was tough! But, it was an amazing night all around. I had such a fun time! 

 

The only thing that would've made it better was if we could've blown up fireworks, but our Handbook says no........

 

 

 

So, Idaho has an odd obsession with angry looking moose, I've learned. Enjoy!

 

Well, that's it for now :) Till next week!!

Love,

~Sister Clark

 

Bring on the heat.... actually, just kidding.‏

This week I've run into something I've never really had to deal with before... heat exhaustion. It's actually something we have to be careful about now that we're on bikes and exercising all day in the sun. Go figure, right? We had a few down days where we pushed ourselves too hard without breaks and ended up feeling nauseous and out of it. Not making that mistake anymore! We're learning how to work smarter, and it's been a lot better :) I've got some pretty amazing tan lines I'm working on right now too... :D

This week we saw another miracle! We were out trying to find a house in some trailer courts, and the Spirit just yelled at me, "go talk to that scruffy man!" So I did... even though he looked a little scary, we did it anyways, and he turned out to recognize us as sent from God and he liked talking to us about religion, and everything we said he would nod and say, "yeah that makes so much sense, I didn't think about it that way." K_____ is awesome! He has so much potential and we have high hopes for him :)

And today is the 4th of July!!! We get an entire day off today, woohoo!!!!! I love my life!!!!! And I love my country! God Bless :D

This week I was pretty lazy about getting up on time for studies, and I really felt its affects. (Staying up too late talking with Sis. Bueno)  I felt tired, unmotivated, self-centered... it was crazy how much I felt affected by simply forgetting to read my scriptures in the morning. On Sunday while I was reading during our lunch break, a scripture hit me in Alma 49:8 "But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni."

 

This scripture is about a people going to war, and their general, Moroni, prayed for instructions and told the people to make armor- something that hadn't been done before. The enemy army was shocked and completely taken off guard!

 

I related that to me vs. Satan. When I prepare myself spiritually, Satan doesn't have anything on me, and I go out and conquer the world. When I'm not prepared.... ick! So my goal for this week is to make sure I'm spiritually up and beyond the bar, so that Satan will also be "utterly astonished". To all of you reading, I challenge you to do the same thing :) Read your scriptures every day this week and you'll be kicking Satan in the mouth! Oorah!

I love you all! Till next week!

 

Pics: first one is of us soaking wet after we went to play in the rain.

Sister Bueno! I didn't get a pic of her last week, so here she is! My new companion, tada!

We decided we needed to throw a normal selfie in here somewhere.

 

​Love,

Sister Clark